The invention is directed to an optical communication network for multiplex operation wherein, proceeding from a distribution location, a respective light waveguide is conducted up to a branching point where a division of the signals into two or more sub-signals ensues with a directional coupler.
An optical communication network of this type is disclosed by German published application DE-35 07 064 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,010. The signals coming from a central location are transmitted in time-division multiplexing up to the subscriber region with a first optical wave length, whereas a second wave length is provided for the signals coming from the subscribers. The branching onto a plurality of subscriber locations ensues with passive optical couplers, for example directional couplers. Only one respective light waveguide is available for a transmission path between the distribution location and the branching point. Since a greater plurality of subscribers (for example 16 through 256 given the cascade circuit of directional couplers) is dependent on the integrity of this one light waveguide, the corresponding plurality of subscriber locations is likewise no longer connected to the distribution location given outage of this one light waveguide. A further difficulty is comprised therein that the one light waveguide is at least temporarily not available for the communication transmission given work at the link (for example splicing jobs or the like) and the subscriber connections are therefore interrupted.